Hacienda Cusín

Well, I’ll be back in Ecuador this summer and the coolest part of that trip is going to be the same as last time:

Chautauqua 2014!!

We all had a blast last year and the finishing touches are now being put on Chautauqua 2014. The biggest news is that this year there will be two.

August 9-16 is the one I’ll be attending and it will be modeled on the first, as I described here:

Meet-mr-money-mustache-jd-roth-cheryl-reed-me-for-a-chautauqua

The view over the Hacienda rooftops

We’ll be returning to Hacienda Cusín because, well, everybody who attended loved this place!

Plus we got to party with people like these:

And we got to skim off a big chunk of the revenue to help local people like these:

And go visit cool places like this crater lake:

Cheryl, Mr. Money Mustache and I will all be returning as your hosts and presenters. Joining us will be Jesse Mecham from youneedabudget.com. Jesse was an attendee last year and having met him, and having seen his presentation at FinCon last October, inviting him to join the 2014 team was just too obvious.

This also freed up JD Roth to move over to the second Chautauqua August 23-30. Along with Cheryl and JD, David Cain of raptitude.com will host and present. Damn, I’m gonna hate to miss that one…

Last year’s event was truly extraordinary, and this was my take: Chautauqua-2013-a-week-of-dreams

Here are still other takes on this event:

Mister Money Mustache

JD Roth

Johnny Moneyseed

One life, many adventures

Carlos reports on the ERE forum

Anyway, for more details as they develop check out: Above the Clouds Retreats. That’s also where you can register should you decide to join us, and I hope you do. As before, this event is limited to only 25 people and last year it sold out in three weeks.

As for now, by the time you read this I’ll be in Mexico. We are returning to San Miguel after about 25 years. My pal Jeremy put this idea in my head with an invitation to stay at his $1000 a Month Home. But at the time, we had already booked our tickets to Guatemala for Christmas. And now he and his wife Winnie have moved on to Taiwan.

Screw it!

Going is still a good idea and while there we’ll get to catch up with Karl, one of the attendees at last year’s Chautauqua and a new friend. He lives and works in Queretaro which, as luck would have it, is the city we’ll fly in and out of. We even get to be there on his birthday, February 26th. All together now: Happy Birthday, Karl!!

Both these guys were key reasons behind our choice to go to Guatemala in December. Karl with his tales of the place and Jeremy with his classic post They will kill you for your shoes!

We had a grand time, so good in fact after our week in Mexico I’m headed back and will be there for the month of March. A few pictures will give you an idea as to why.

 Guatemalan children about to kill a tourist for her shoes. They even shared their orange, trying no doubt to create a false sense of security.

When the risk to your shoes gets to be too great, this sign conveniently shows the way out.

One more reminder of what those kids look like. Keep your eyes peeled.

Scary, but I’m going anyway…

…and, as regular readers know, I travel without a computer. Therefore the blog tends to go a bit dark while I’m gone. My phone will allow me to approve new comments as they come in, but the tiny screen and my lack of skill will keep all but my shortest replies on hold until my return.

No new posts or detailed answers over on Ask jlcollinsnh for a while either. Still, if you haven’t already, there are lots of mini-case studies to read over there. Plus may I suggest:

The Stock Series

The Case Studies

How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable

Podcasts and Guest Posts 

Here are some thoughts on figuring the number you need to retire:

The number you need to retire safely?

The Rule of 300

Withdrawal rates: How much can I spend anyway?

Over 20 years ago Billy and Akaisha Kaderli hung it up and embarked on a saga of long-term slow travel across the world. They are still at it and as luck would have, we caught up with them in December in Guatemala. They are as fascinating as you’d expect, and we plan to meet up again on my return.

Since then, they have asked me to adapt two of my posts for their blog Retire Early Lifestyle:

One on My way of travel: Esperando un Camino

Another on Why Your House is a Terrible Investment

For more on Billy and Akaisha, check out their interview with the Mad Fientist.

And in case you missed it and on the off chance you’re interested, the Mad Fientist interviewed me, too.

So did Johnny Moneyseed: A man with F-you money

Since I’ll be traveling, why not you? Here’s the New York Budget’s wacky and wild Cheap Travel destinations for all 50 states. Maybe you’ll find a few to add to your bucket list.

Finally, here’re some random cool photos:

Other cool villages in Europe

Ancient Cart Ruts

 Norilsk, Russia

Houses in China

What the sky would look like if the Andromeda Galaxy was brighter.

Addendum:

Seems the Chautauqua has sold out for 2014. It took two weeks from the date of this post. Last year, it took three.

Cheryl is accepting people for the waiting list just in case a spot of two opens up and I believe there is still space available in the second one, but I won’t be there for that one.

We limit the number of attendees to 25 so we all have the chance to really spend time with each other. But unfortunately that means not all who want to get to come. Hope you’ll plan for next year!

My thanks to all who have taken the leap of faith and will be joining us. I look forward to meeting you. If it is anything like last year, we are in for a very cool time together!